Murray to face Gulbis

British number one Andy Murray will renew hostilities with Latvian Ernests Gulbis in the first round of the US Open next week.

Murray, second seed and world number two at Flushing Meadows, beat Gulbis in straight sets in the second round on his way to the semi-finals at Wimbledon this year.

The build-up to Murray's and Gulbis' meeting at the All England Club two months ago was dominated by the latter's claims that the Scot had employed gamesmanship to beat him at Queen's Club a year earlier.

Croatia's Ivo Karlovic is a potential third round opponent for Murray, and either Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka, seeded 19, or No.16 Marian Cilic, another Croatian, could face Murray in round four.

Argentina's rising talent Juan Martin del Potro is Murray's possible quarter-final opponent with Rafael Nadal seeded to face him in the last four.

Top seed Roger Federer, who beat Murray last Saturday in the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters tournament, is coming off victories at both the French Open and Wimbledon that took his total career Grand Slam titles to 15, surpassing Pete Sampras' record.

The Swiss star will begin his bid for a sixth straight US Open title against American wild card Devin Britton with Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, seeded 31, a possible third-round opponent, American James Blake (21) or Spain's Tommy Robredo (14) in round four and eighth seed Nikolay Davydenko a potential obstacle in the last eight.

The bottom quarter of Federer's half of the draw is highlighted by fourth seed Novak Djokovic, who was beaten by the world number one in the Cincinnati final, and fifth seed Andy Roddick, the American who took the Swiss to a 30th game in the final set of the Wimbledon men's singles final before eventually losing out 16-14.